For You, Brother (AU)
by blaudrache0084
Summary: Matt and his brother, Anthony, are 2 of the 8,500 "lucky" people to get their hands on the North American version of Sword Art Online. Soon, however, a dark twist reveals itself: If a player dies in the game, it's for real. Will the two brothers be able to beat the final boss and make it out, or will the game take them as casualties? (I don't own or take credit to Sword Art Online)
1. Arrival

**Author's Note: Thank you for taking the time to read this! This is my first time writing a fanfiction, and I have to say I enjoyed this a lot! Please any criticism you have will be super helpful to me! Enjoy!**

* * *

The amount of players already inside of Sword Art Online was astonishing to Matt. The game had launched only a few minutes prior, yet the spawn zone in the Town of Beginnings was filling up with players logging in by the second. When Matt checked how many players exactly were logged in, it showed eight thousand and eight. His eyes were wide with amazement after seeing the number.

Sword Art Online was the first of its kind: A virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing game, or a VRMMORPG for short. What made it so special was that it created an avatar and put a person inside of the game. This meant that the player was virtually inside of a game, actually walking and moving as if it were real. All of this was possible due to new technology the Japanese invented, the NerveGear, which was just a big machine a person put over their head, it would then link that person into the virtual world of the game they were playing.

Some were worried that this would cause the players to hurt themselves while playing because they could swing their arms while attacking. However, this issue was put to ease when they announced that the NerveGear would cause a paralysis, making the user unable to move in any way while the NerveGear was connected. Matt was never worried about this issue. He was more worried about if the game would be Japanese exclusive or not.

When they first announced the game, the creator, Akihiko Kayaba, told the press that the game would be a Japanese exclusive. However, over the course of three months, he started giving hints that it would be released outside of Japan, but only a limited amount of copies. He finally stated that eight thousand five hundred copies would be released in North America, as a way to test how much reception the game would receive. As soon as Matt heard about this, he pre-ordered two copies: one for him, and one for his brother, Anthony.

Matt looked around, smiling to himself. Matt was nineteen years old. His in game avatar was similar to how he actually looked in real life: medium blond hair with his bangs going to his eyes, he was a medium height for a male living in America, yet oddly skinny. His starting outfit was a blue and white vest with white pants and white gloves and he carried a one-handed sword on his right side. Then there was his favorite feature, about both his avatar and real life body: purple eyes. In real life, Matt had Alexandria Genesis, or "purple eyes". This condition had no real affect on his body, other than making him more pale than most.

"Hey bro, are we just going to stand here and gaze dumbfounded at the game, or are we actually going to play this thing?" Matt looked over and noticed a tall man trying to grab his attention.

The man was at least half a foot taller than Matt, putting him well over six feet. Not only was he tall, but he was big; the man looked like he was a professional football player. He had a buzz cut, with dark brown eyes. He was wearing all heavy armor, and carried a huge shield and an axe that Matt would probably need two hands to carry, and if Matt didn't already know who it was, he would be very intimidated by the appearance.

Matt smiled. _Good, Anthony's avatar looks just like him: intimidating as hell. Hopefully I shouldn't ever have any troubles finding him now._

"Well hello there stranger, what seems to bring you here?" Matt said to Anthony in a sarcastic manner.

"Who's the stranger here? Surely you'd be able to recognize your own brother! I mean, I created my avatar to look just like me!" Anthony exclaimed jokingly.

The two stared at each other emotionlessly for a few moments, until Matt started bursting out laughing, which cause Anthony to start laughing uncontrollably as well. Their burst of laughter went on for a couple minutes before they could finally start to calm down. Players around them looked at them with strange looks, but the two paid no attention to the onlookers.

"I'm glad Mom and Dad let you take some time off from your schoolwork to let you enjoy the new game with me." Matt said excitedly.

"Yeah bro I'm glad too! It wasn't terribly hard to convince Dad since he's a gamer as well. Mom on the other hand just wanted me to work my ass off until Fall Break, but Dad talked her into letting me have some free time."

"Dude you're like… eighteen and graduating this year. Why the hell is Mom still so hard on you with it? Unlike me, you actually do your work and get good grades.

Anthony chuckled. "Yeah that's true, but you know how Mom is."

Matt nodded. Ever since he didn't start doing well in school, Anthony had to pick up on the slack by doing all the most advanced classes he could. Matt always felt bad for putting him through it, which is part of the reason why he bought the game for the two of them.

"Well, should we go ahead and get started with the game then? Or do you just want to explore the town and get a feel for the virtual reality?

"Bro, I wasn't able to sleep last night I was so excited to play this with you, so you're damn right we're going to get started with it!" Anthony stated.

"Alright, sounds good to me. I think I see the entrance of the town from here." Matt said pointing at a large gate to the left of them.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

The two started walking, but Matt stopped suddenly.

"Oh yeah, I forgot something!" Matt said as he swiped his fingers downward in front of him, opening up a menu. From his menu he added Anthony as a friend and sent him a party invitation. The benefit to having a party was that it allowed you to keep track of the player's health in the party more easily, but the loot was shared, so if a rare item was dropped, the players would have to win a dice roll to determine who would receive it. After the roll was won, the item would go directly into the character's inventory, so that there wasn't any way of a character stealing the item even after the outcome had been determined.

Anthony accepted both the friend request and the party invitation and smiled, then started walking towards the giant gate they believed was the town entrance, and thus the beginnings their epic adventures in Sword Art Online began.

* * *

Anthony swung his shield into the Frenzy Boar's side with an ability called 'Shield Bash'. It took out half of the boar's health instantly. The boar, being an AI knowing the possible outcome of every move made, tried to retreat. Matt jumped in front of it and slashed his sword at the boar, going into a combo known as 'Sword Flurry'. He didn't even finish the move when the boar's HP had dropped to zero and he dissolved into thousands of tiny glimmering crystal-like particles that faded away into virtual nothingness.

"That was the last one we needed, right?" Matt asked, sheathing his sword.

Anthony nodded. "Yeah bro, we can go turn in the quest now."

Matt nodded and stared off into the distance. Surrounding them was a vast plains; large enough to where they couldn't see the other eight thousand players at all. To their left was a huge body of crystal-clear water. In the center of it all was a huge stone pillar, which held the dungeon and boss room somewhere inside of it. Each floor had the pillar, as it was the only way to advance to the next floor initially. After the boss room for the floor was cleared, a player could use the teleporter to go to whatever floor they wanted, as long as they had completed the boss room to access the floor.

Anthony realized Matt was gazing at the open world, and joined him. They stared for minutes in blissful silence, until finally Matt spoke up.

"You know, this is absolutely amazing. There's so much space here, it's like being in an actually place. Yet it's not even real." He paused, smiling, "I don't know about you, but if I could never leave this game, I think I would be happy!"

Anthony laughed. "Well, unlike you, I'm pretty sure Mom would kill me for ignoring my responsibilities and not leaving the game, and if that wasn't enough to worry about already there's still my girlfriend who would kill me for never spending any time with her. Either way though, I have to agree with you."

They stood there in silence for a few more minutes, each savoring the beauty of the world they were in. Neither of them wanted to move from this space, but they knew they should because they didn't want to fall behind everyone else and so that they could get all the best items and experience possible.

"Well," Matt started," I guess we should go turn in this quest now, huh? Which way was the quest giver again?"

"Do you have no sense of direction whatsoever?" Anthony said in a joking matter, "Well, regardless, I at least know where she was. Follow me!"

Matt sighed. Anthony always bugged him about the little things he wasn't good at. Even though he was his younger brother, Anthony acted a lot like an older brother; always teasing and pushing him around. Matt shrugged it off though, he couldn't let something as miniscule as that get in the way of him enjoying the world's first ever VRMMORPG.

On their way to the quest giver, they only passed by one other player. It was still unsettling to Matt the game was so large and expansive yet you could play through it all and never see a single player outside of a major town.

"Hey Anthony, do you find it unsettling that you could possibly go through the entire game without seeing another player outside of a major town? I know it's only a game, but it makes it seem like we're the only ones here, doesn't it?"

Anthony chuckled. "No way bro, because the spawn time of the monsters is so low and the experience and items given from completing a quest dwindles as it gets completed by more and more players, it only makes sense to make everything so far away from each other so it makes it more fair for the players just starting, or who are behind because they had to get off. I mean, it wouldn't be fair if this was a game the size of World of Warcraft, yet that game had the same questing mechanics as Sword Art Online does. Only the players who had the opportunity of getting game first and logged in instantly would ever have a chance of getting good gear and really enjoying the game to the fullest."

Matt couldn't help but to stare in awe at Anthony's response. Younger brother or not, Anthony put tons of thought into what he was saying, something Matt had always been jealous of. They continued walking until Matt noticed something.

"Hey Anthony, is that a mini-boss over there in the distance?" Matt said pointing over toward a large object.

Anthony squinted to try and see. The game had an autofocus feature that took effect when a player squinted, allowing them to view the object in more detail. As he examined it, he noticed it was a boar like the rest they've fought on the first floor, except this was one a giant compared to the rest.

"Yeah, that's got to be a mini-boss! It's definitely a boar, yet it's at least five times the size of all the others we've been fighting!" Anthony exclaimed excitedly. "Want to go kill it?"

"I don't know, do you think we can?" Matt asked with an uneasy feeling to him. Even though this was just a video game, it didn't stop the enemies from looking intimidating.

"Bro, we've been killing these boars here like nothing. Mini-boss or not, it can't be that hard. I mean, it's only the first floor! The worst that could happen is we die and respawn, right?"

Matt paused, and nodded in agreement.

"Well alright, let's go kick some boar ass!" Anthony said as he started to charge towards the boar.

* * *

A few minutes into the fight, Matt and Anthony were regretting their decision to attack the mini-boss. The two still weren't completely used to how the movement system worked in the game, and often times tripped over nothing. This exact incident had caused the mini-boss to bite off Matt's right hand, which caused him to freak him out.

"Anthony, I lost my _hand_! I am losing my shit over here!"

"Suck it up and use your _other one_! This thing is kicking our ass and I can't handle it on my own." Anthony responded, putting his shield in front to block the boar in just the nick of time.

Matt stared, still not knowing exactly what to do. He knew if he didn't help Anthony out they would lose this battle, and he didn't feel like losing to such a low level mini-boss, but without his right hand, he was sure he'd be all but useless as he was dominantly right-handed. He weighed his options, then picked up his sword with his left hand and charged at the boar, whose complete entranced with Anthony. _He's good at keeping the enemy's attention; the boar isn't even noticing me!_ Matt smiled as he swung his sword at the preoccupied boar.

Just as his sword was about to make contact, the boar's hind legs kicked Matt and made him go flying. Matt landed with a _thud_ and was disoriented for a few moments. When he finally came to him senses, the boar was charging at him. _Shit, my HP is already in the red, there's no way I'll be able to survive this!_ Matt thought to himself, clenching his fist tighter around his sword. He didn't want to be the first one between the two to die.

As the boar approached him, Matt realized there wasn't much he could do. He thought about dodging the attack, but the boar was too close for him to do that, and if he tried attacking it while it was charging he was certain he would most likely miss due to the fact that he was using his left arm. Suddenly, he felt himself being pushed out of the way. As he looked back he saw Anthony was in his place. Anthony looked over and smiled. _Hah, even inside of a game he's always trying to be the one helping people._ Matt laughed to himself as he fell to the ground.

Anthony had successfully put himself in the spotlight. He raised his shield, but with the boar being moments away, he didn't have enough time to raise his shield in defense and it hit him with a direct hit. _Shit, I think the boar just took out his HP!_ Moments later Matt's fear came true, as Anthony came down with a _thud_ he watched his HP, which was already in the red, drop down to zero and saw his avatar disintegrate into crystal-like particles and faded away.

 _Idiot! You were the first to die!_ Matt smirked, thankful he wasn't the first out of the two to go. Now that Anthony was dead and had a respawn timer, he had another issue: he had to finish the boss fight himself. He scanned the boar to check its health, which was in the red. _Just one more hit and it should die, but I need an opening first; I can't really do much in this situation without one._ As if on cue, the boar stood on its hind legs and let out a victory squeal, completely oblivious to Matt.

 _Perfect!_ Matt said as he dashed towards the boar, preparing to use 'Skyward Blast'. As he began the uppercut motion, the game assistive feature kicked in to assist him with the move. He slashed at the boar, whose health depleted until it hit zero. _Hell yeah!_ Matt jumped in the air to cheer as he noticed the boar dropped an item: a necklace with a miniature head of a boar. _Sweet, since I was the only one alive when it died I get to keep it! I'll have to show Anthony what he's missing out on when he respawns in a few seconds._

Matt sat down and relaxed while waiting for his brother to respawn. A few minutes had passed, and Matt noticed wasn't there yet. _Weird, it should only take a few seconds if that. Maybe he got mad and exited the game?_ Matt shrugged, opening his menu to see if Anthony was even still online. But as he went to the social page where his friends list was, he noticed Anthony wasn't even on it.

 _That's weird. I know for a fact that he accepted my request._ He stared at the screen, puzzled, when suddenly he heard a loud ringing. _What's that noise?_ But before he could investigate, a light blinded him.

* * *

The next thing he knew, he was back at the Town of Beginnings, as well as everyone else that was still in the game. Mat looked around, confused as to why suddenly everyone was teleported here. Nobody spoke for the first couple a moments, but soon the crowd started murmuring and talking to one another. As Matt looked around, he noticed a lot of players looked extremely angry, but before he could investigate further, people in the crowd started screaming.

"Hey everyone, look up at the sky!"

"What in the world is that?"

"Can we logout yet?"

Matt looked up to see what was going on, and noticed two flashing words in a red font that read _WARNING_ and _SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT. What the hell is going on here?_ Soon after the words were shown, a giant person at least sixty feet tall, clad in a robe with a crimson hood suddenly appeared, but something was off about his appearance: where his face should've been was an empty space, and every other place that should've had a visible body part also showed an empty space.

"Welcome to my world, dear players." In the next few moments, the life of all the players inside of the game would change.


	2. Hard Beginnings

**Author's Note: Sorry this one took so long to come out! I had a lot of troubles with this chapter for some reason. I think it's because I was doing my best to make it my content while at the same time keeping what was in the original story. I feel as if the first part of this wasn't very well written, but I'm hoping you enjoy it regardless!**

* * *

The robed man stared emotionlessly into the crowd, giving Matt an uneasy feeling.

"For those of you unaware of who I am, my name is Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online, and currently I am the only one person alive with any control of this world."

 _Something's not right here. I got a bad feeling from this guy._ Matt thought as a sense of dread overcame him.

"Some of you may have realized that the logout button has been missing. I hope I make myself clear when I say this is _not_ a bug, but a feature of the game.

The crowd gasped. _What does he mean a feature? Logout buttons are part of any MMO, surely he can't be serious?_ Matt tried putting the thought aside, but it soon became clear he would be thinking about it until he knew for certain it was a joke.

"This means from this point forward, nobody can log out until one condition has been fulfilled: When the final boss has been beat, all players will be logged from the game. It's quite simple really. But there is a catch…"

Matt felt sick to his stomach. _This can't be happening! He can't keep us here! What kind of sick joke is this guy trying to pull?_ As Matt tried to keep his thoughts together, Kayaba spoke some again, but this time the words seemed to take an eternity to leave his mouth.

"The catch is that the NerveGear cannot be taken off by anyone in the outside world without _dire_ consequences. If the NerveGear is damaged or attempted to be taken off… " Kayaba paused dramatically, "Then the NerveGear will fry your brain with a high-powered voltage, shutting down your vital processes."

Nobody in the crowd said a word. Matt stared in shock; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. _I could… die? But, t-this is just a video game! This isn't worth my life!_ Kayaba raised his hand, signaling that he had more to say.

"To be more specific, the NerveGear will create a charge after the following events: ten minutes of no external power; two hours of network disconnection; removal, disruption, or destruction of the NerveGear, and…" Kayaba made a dramatic pause again. _There's something he hasn't told us yet._ Matt's body started to shake, he couldn't help but feel like something terrible was about to happen.

"Death in the game will also cause the NerveGear to fry a player's brain."

* * *

Matt's heart felt like it stopped. _W-what? There's no way…_ He felt weak, as if his entire lower body was ready to fall apart at any second. He could feel his eyes begin to water, yet he managed to hold back the tears. _There's no way to confirm any of this. It has to be a sick joke he's playing on us. Surely somebody is going to reappear at any moment and we'll all probably just leave._

"Now, many of you are probably wondering: Why would Akihito Kayaba, creator of one of the most anticipated games ever, do something like this? Well, the answer is quite simple actually: All my life I've dreamt of having a castle in the sky. Of course, this could never happen in reality. So I created the full-dive system, allowing one to be inside of a game, where the imagination is limitless to what can happen!" A smile appeared across Kayaba's avatar, the only emotion he had displayed so far. "But, there was still the fact I wanted people to experience the castle as if it were real life. So, I created Sword Art Online, and gave the NerveGear the capabilities to fry one's brain if a person were to die, to simulate the affects of a real-life death."

The entire crowd was silent. Many, including Matt, were visibly shaking. Out of nowhere, a man laughed maniacally. The crowd turned to his direction, trying to determine whether he was a threat or not. The man didn't seem to notice though; all his attention was focused on Kayaba.

"You expect us to just believe you've trapped us all inside a _video game?_ Hah! Don't make me laugh!" He pointed to Kayaba, laughing. "In fact, I bet that if I were to jump off that ledge over there right now I would just respawn right over there at the spawn point!" This got the crowd cheering.

Kayaba looked at the man, and then nodded. "I'd hate for somebody to lose their lives over _this_ , but be my guest." His statement sent shivers down Matt's spine. Matt was certain that Kayaba meant what he was saying now.

The man smiled and charged at the ledge. "Alright you piece of shit, I'll prove you wrong and when I do the entire game will be shut down!" The crowd cheered as he soared over Aincrad. He turned around as he was falling and shot a thumbs-up, his body then shattered into thousands of crystals.

The crowd continued to cheer, but Kayaba kept the same emotionless expression; it gave Matt a very uneasy feeling. _He seems too calm for this to go right…_ After a few minutes, people began looking around for the man who jumped. However, no signs of him were found. The crowd started talking amongst themselves again, this time the crowd seemed scared.

* * *

"Such a shame he had to lose his life like that. He was a good player; he could've made it all the way to the final boss. Now, where was I before he interrupted?" Kayaba asked. He swiped his fingers and hundreds of news articles popped up across the sky, each with the same headline: _Two hundred and four people died from NerveGear._ The crowd gasped.

"As you can see, what I had said was true. These are all articles from the outside world. However, instead of two hundred and four players, the number count has risen to two hundred and eighteen." People in the crowd began to cry. "This game is now you're reality. To prove this to you, I have placed an item inside everyone's bag. Go ahead and open it." Kayaba then paused, waiting for the players to do as he said.

Matt swiped his fingers down and opened the bag. Inside was the item, _Mirror of Truth_. There didn't seem to be anything particularly special about this item. Just then however, a bright light enveloped all the players.

When Matt opened his eyes, it seemed as though nothing had changed at first. Then, people started to scream.

"Hey, this isn't my avatar!"

"Wait, you're not actually a girl?!"

Matt raised his eyebrows in confusion. He didn't know what the big fuss was about. He looked into the mirror, which was now in his hand, and gasped. _I didn't put a scar on my avatar. In fact, that looks awfully a lot like…_ Matt didn't have time to finish thinking before Kayaba interrupted again.

"As you all can see, you are now an exact copy of your real body. I hope this puts you all in the mindset of actually taking this as serious as you should. There is one more thing I would like to tell you all before I leave. The same thing is happening on the Japanese servers of the game, only they started off with ten-thousand players. I will be sending you all updates on how they are doing, and vice-versa. I will also send updates into the real world with how well both servers are doing." Kayaba smiled. "This ends the tutorial of Sword Art Online. Farewell players and good luck." Kayaba's avatar then disappeared in a sheet of white light.

* * *

Matt stared blankly; so many thoughts were running through his head at once. _Okay, calm down Matt, it's not the end of the world yet. Clearing one hundred floors surely isn't that bad. You're a gamer for God's sake! You've played end game content before; this is basically just child's play! Grind for levels, kill the bosses!_ Matt smiled to himself, finally thinking a positive thought. Sadly for him, the negativity strongly outweighed the positivity here.

 _Although who knows how long it takes to grind for all those levels, and this game is so huge it has to take forever just to find the dungeon. We could be stuck in here for years due to the amount of time it'll take to explore the floors! Then there's the fact that when people die in the game…_ Matt's heart stopped with the thought. So many things had been going on that he completely forgot about Anthony. He still wasn't anywhere to be seen. He thought about it for a few minutes, but then he remembered what happened to Anthony.

 _No. This can't be happening…_ Matt fell to his knees. He recalled what had just happened to the man trying to prove to Kayaba that nothing would happen if he were to die. _Anthony…_ Tears started to fall from Matt's eyes, but he made no effort into trying to stop them. He had finally figured out why Anthony hadn't logged back in. _Anthony… You're gone…_ He screamed. A few people around him looked at him, and then started crying as well. Soon, it seemed the entire crowd started following suite. Soon, people started charging towards the ledges, trying to throw themselves over and end their lives.

* * *

A man in the crowd screamed at all those that were trying to end it. "Hey, stop! Don't do that! Think about what you're doing, please!" A few stopped, but the majority jumped without a second thought.

"Everyone, listen up! We all need to discuss what's going on as a community. Please come to the largest church in the town so we can all discuss this." A man in iron armor said.

Matt didn't even look up; he didn't even think he had the energy to do that. He felt weak and hopeless. He didn't care if he just died right now. He felt a hand touch his shoulder, which startled him.

"Hey, you okay?" The man asked Matt, but Matt didn't reply. "We should go to the church, everyone is leaving now. Besides, it's getting chilly, you could catch a cold."

Matt stared the man into the eyes. "Go away." Matt said as he weakly pushed the man's arms off of his shoulders.

"Come on buddy, you can't just stay out here all night." The man kept pestering Matt, which made him furious.

"I said go the fuck away!" Matt screamed as he shoved the man away. The man looked at Matt and sighed.

"Sorry, just trying to help…" He apologized as he walked away.

Matt glared at the man as he walked away. He felt bad that he treated him so rudely, but Matt wasn't in the mood to be nice at the moment. _Why is this happening to me?_ The tears came down like a stream. He didn't remember a single time in his life where he cried this hard before, although he had never actually lost anybody before.

An hour had passed and he was still in the same spot, crying. He looked up at the sky, it was now dark outside. He stared at the moon, which reminded him that he had been in the game since noon. H _ow long will we be trapped inside of this game?_ He wondered to himself. Moments later, his eyes felt extremely heavy, as he realized just how tired he was. Even though it was just a game, it felt like it was for real. Sleepiness, hunger, and thirst felt real to him. As his eyes finally shut, last thing he remembered seeing was the moon before exhaustion overtook him.

* * *

When Matt awoke, he felt extremely warm. He tiredly looked around and saw that he was under a blanket and he was lying by a fire. _What the hell? I didn't have a blanket or start a fire before I passed out. Or did I?_ He questioned himself, but he was quickly reassured when he looked over and saw a girl sitting by the fire. He sat up and wiped his eyes, and she smiled.

"Oh hey, you're up!" The girl said enthusiastically. In his weary state, he did his best to examine her. The first thing he noticed was she was also extremely pale like him, and slender, but physically fit. If he ever picked a fist-fight with her, she would've easily won. She was a little shorter than Matt, with long, blonde hair and emerald-green eyes that he felt he could melt into. She had a dagger sheathed at her left side, and a small wooden shield on her back.

The girl's smile soon faded and she took on a more serious look.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind that I covered you up. I was walking around and noticed you were shaking. What were you even doing out here anyways? There are plenty of inns in the town!"

Matt looked at her. "It's been a bit of a long day, and I'd rather not discuss it." The girl began to frown. "As for the blanket, I do appreciate that." Matt said trying to force a smile.

The girl smiled back. "Good. I didn't want you to be mad at me for trying to help. Who knows what could happen if you got sick from the cold in this game?" She shrugged and extended her hand out. "My name's Alice."

Matt shook her hand. "I'm Matt. And seriously, thanks for the blanket. I suppose you want this back now?"

"Nah, I was actually about to cuddle up to you and pass out. I mean, so I could keep warm!" She said blushing.

Matt chuckled to himself. "Don't worry, I understand. What were you doing out here?"

Alice shook her head, trying to shake the blush off of her face. "Oh, I got tired of the people bitching at the meeting at the church, so I decided to just grab a room at an inn, but I bumped into you just lying here, so I decided against the inn to make sure you were ok. Hey, you never answered why _you_ were out here!"

"Oh… Well…" Matt hesitated. He didn't want to start crying again, so he chose what to say carefully. "Like I said it was a rough day. I had been in this spot since we all got teleported here. I think I ended up crying myself to sleep…" He admitted.

"Oh. I see. Sorry to bring that up then." She apologized.

"No, it's fine! I guess the more I can admit to it the easier it'll be to accept what all has happened." He smiled at Alice, who reciprocated. They looked at each other for a bit, until Alice yawned.

"Hey, would it be alright if I just cuddled up beside you? It's kind of chilly outside, and I don't really want to get sick." She asked, embarrassed.

Matt smiled to himself. He wouldn't mind having a little bit more warmth and some company in the morning. "Yeah, that's fine."

Alice smiled as she walked towards Matt. She then proceeded to lie down besides Matt, his back towards her, and wrapped her arms around him. Matt felt butterflies in his stomach. He didn't feel weird that he was sleeping with a stranger, he just felt awkward that Alice was so open about it. _I'm sure I'm just thinking too much._ Matt said to himself, yawning.

* * *

When he awoke, he could smell the scent of something cooking. He looked over at the fire to see Alice was cooking. He wiped his eyes wearily. "Good morning."

Alice looked up startled. "Oh, you're up, good morning! Did I wake you up? Matt shook his head. "Phew, that's good. What about last night?" Again, Matt shook his head. "Oh that's good! Hey I'm making breakfast, or what I'm hoping will be. Want some?"

Matt's stomach grumbled. He realized that he hadn't eaten since before he logged into Sword Art Online yesterday. 'Yeah, I'd love some!" He exclaimed as Alice handed him a plate. He took a bite out of the food, only to be slightly disappointed with how it tasted, and his face showed it.

"Sorry if it's not good," Alice said seeing the look on his face, "my cooking skill isn't very high still."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it! I'm happy that you're feeding me!" They laughed at the comment.

As Matt devoured his food, Alice started asking him questions.

"So what exactly are you going to do?

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are you going to do in the game? At the meeting everyone was saying that only the people who didn't care about living were going to try and beat the game, yet without those people trying to beat the game, none of us may ever leave here."

Matt stared at his food in thought. He hadn't thought about any of this yet. He was scared that he might die if he tried to clear the game, but he knew Anthony would never back away from helping out others.

"I think I'll try and clear the game." He said in a serious tone. "My brother and I always wanted to be top players in a MMORPG, and I guess this is the best opportunity I have for it." He faked a smile. Thinking about Anthony at all was hard to do for him.

Alice was deep in thought, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Matt finished his food and stood up. He was sore from lying on the ground all night. "What about you?"

"Oh, well, I don't really know. I was thinking," She said shyly, "if you would be okay if I just stuck around with you for a while?"

Matt was shocked. _Why would she want to come with me? She doesn't even know me!_ The more he thought about it however, the better the idea seemed. _I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a friend since we don't know how long we're going to be trapped here. Plus, I could use somebody to watch my back._

Matt nodded his head. "Yeah, that would be awesome!"

Alice cheered and raised her fists in excitement.

"Alright then, when do we get started? She asked.

Matt shrugged. "Why not right now? Unless you need to do something first that is?"

Alice shook her head. "Nope, I'm ready when you are!"

Matt smiled. "Alright then, let's get going."

They made their way outside of the gate and Matt stopped.

"Hey, could you give me one minute real quick?" He asked.

Alice nodded, and continued down the road. Matt looked back at the town, feeling uneasy. _Well, I guess this is it. I'm going to make it out of this game alive. I swear on it. For you, brother…_ A single tear slid down his face as he turned around to catch up to Alice, leaving the Town of Beginnings behind him.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So for those of you wondering, at the moment I have no plans of shipping Alice and Matt. However, I do want them to have a close relationship, and if I write and feel like it would be right to ship them, I think I will. But again, I'm only now going on chapter 3, and I'm hoping this series will last much longer than 3 chapters.**


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